Rosita Henry

Professor Rosita Henry is an anthropologist whose research concerns the political economy of memory, public performances, cultural festivals, heritage claims and disputes, land tenure conflict and the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the state. In that regard, she has worked, and continues to work, on a number of related research projects, with particular ethnographic focus on peoples and societies in the tropical north of Australia and in Papua New Guinea.

Gender and Social Change in PNG: I have researched and completed a biographical ethnography on gender, politics and changing values of land in Papua New Guinea, focusing on the life of a woman of the Western Highlands, Maggie Wilson. This has been published by MacFarland Press (2019) and made an ehnographic film entitled "An Extraordinary Wedding: Marriage and Modernity in Western Highlands, PNG"

Museums and Collections: I led the ARC funded project "Objects of Possession: Artefact Transactions in the Wet Tropics of North Queensland", conducted in collaboration with Associate Professor Russell McGregor, Dr Michael Wood, Dr Shelley Greer, Professor Ton Otto and Dr Maureen Fuary. The project concerned ethnographic collecting in the Wet Tropics of North Queensland and contemporary Indigenous engagement with the ‘artefacts’ collected. We sought to explore the diverse ways in which Aboriginal peoples, collectors and museums have expressed their interests and property rights and values in the collected artefacts. Further research in this area is planned.

Aging and Later Life: I led the ARC funded project "Planning for Later Life among Papua New Guineans in North Queensland". This    study was conducted with Dr Michael Wood, James Cook University, and Professor Karen Sykes, University of Manchester, England. The study aimed to contribute to knowledge and understanding of the importance of intergenerational and transnational relations in the care of the elderly. Further publications are in train based on this reseach.

Cosmo-Political Landscapes: My past involvement in a project led by Dr Shelley Greer and Dr Susan McIntyre- Tamwoy aiming to understand historical cosmo-political landscapes in the borderlands between Australia and Papua New Guinea, has led me to continuing research interest in the anthropology of landscapes, although I am currently not conducting research on this topic.

Cultural festivals: I collaborated with Barbara Glowczewski (CNRS) and Marcia Langton (University of Melbourne), to establish in 2003 a French/Australian network: Strategies of Communication: Cultural festivals and New Technologies. The key outcome of this collaboration was the book "Le Défi Indigène, Entre Spectacle et Politique" (2007), which was updated and published in English by Bardwell Press, Oxford as "The Challenge of Indigenous People: Spectacle or Politics?" (2011). I was a member of Pacific Alternatives, a major research programme involving an international network of researchers working on political innovation and heritage in Oceania, led by Professor Edvard Hviding and funded by the Norwegian Research Council through the University of Bergen. My project within this programme was entitled "Intangible cultural heritage and the innovative politics of cultural festivals in Australia and the Pacific". I have a continuing research interest Festivals (although currently unfunded).